Last week, former Wichita State standout bowler Dasha Kovalova won her second PWBA title of the 2019 season.
Dasha did a lot more than just win the tournament. She bowled a perfect game in the championship match. She is only the fourth female to bowl a perfect game in a PWBA event on TV.
Michelle Feldman, Cara Honeychurch and Dasha's opponent, Liz Johnson, preceded Dasha.
To top it off, Dasha's mom Oksana watched the game front and center. It was the first time Oksana got to see Dasha bowl on TV in the United States.
CBS Sports posted on Facebook a great video clip highlighting each of Dasha's 12 strikes. Dasha's Wichita State teammate and longtime Team Singapore phenom Jazreel Tan can be seen at the end of the clip standing next to Oksana.
source: PWBA
2019 PWBA US Open Champion - Danielle McEwan
Better late than never. But it's Danielle.
Last month as the #2 seed coming into stepladder finals of the 2019 PWBA US Open, Danielle defeated #3 seed Shannon O'Keefe and top seed/tour roommate Tannya Roumimper to win her first green jacket and second major championship. Grace under pressure, Danielle needed to bowl consecutive strikes in her semi-final and final matches to win.
I watched the entire broadcast live on the edge of my seat screaming at the TV. I have since watched it 2 more times on my DVR.
Congratulations to former Wichita State women's bowling phenom Dasha Kovalova on winning her first PWBA title, the USBC Queens,
This year's tournament was held at Northrock Lanes in Wichita, Dasha's home turf.
Two of the other finalists, Clara Guerrero and Tannya Roumimper, also bowled at Wichita State.
I first wrote about Dasha in 2013 (see June 8, 2013 entry) as one of the outstanding female bowlers on the European tour.
At the time I wrote the entry, the PWBA tour had closed operations in 2003. It relaunched in 2015. All the bowlers I mentioned: Shayna Ng, Jazreel Tan and Dasha's opponent in the European Women's Champtionship, Birgit Poppler, are ALL currently on this year's PWBA tour.
All have at least one PWBA title.
Here's Dasha's match against #2 Jane Sin (also known as Sin Jane Li):
Big congratulations to McKendree Women's Bowling coach and 2018 PWBA Player of the Year Shannon O'Keefe on her exciting win over Malaysia's Sin Li Jane in the 2018 Qubica AMF World Cup held at Sam's Town in Las Vegas.
Without further ado, here's the semifinals and finals women's matches from Bowl.com:
With only 3 tournaments remaining for the 2018 PWBA season, the next tour stop is in Columbus, Ohio at Wayne Webb's Columbus Bowl.
Bowl Fearless.
Bowlers featured in video in order of appearance:
Diana Zajvalova, Kelly Kulick, Daria Pajak, Stefanie Johnson, Liz Johnson, and the heavy favorite for Player of the Year, Shannon O'Keefe.
source: PWBA.com
Liz Johnson, 2013, (no US Open in 2014) 2015, 2016, 2017
PWBA US Open Champion
To win a professional bowling tournament is difficult. To win the same tournament 4 consecutive times is tremendously difficult. Liz Johnson did exactly that, winning her 4th PWBA US Open. This is Liz's 10th major title.
For you clueless league hacks that think you can do this, read on.
Here's what Liz was up against for 2017's US Open:
1. 114 bowlers (not including herself) bowl 4 rounds, 8 games each (32 games) in the qualifying round.
2. Top 24 bowl 3 rounds, 8 games each (24 games) in match play.
3. Top 5 bowlers go to the televised stepladder final.
4. Liz makes it in as the 5th seed, averaging 225.38 for 56 games.
Liz climbs her way up the stepladder, defeating Nicole Trudell, Valerie Bercier, Erin McCarthy and top seed Daria Pajak. The oldest of the 4 bowlers Liz defeated is 27 (Erin McCarthy). Liz is 43.
Let that sink in for a moment.
32 games in 4 days.
Bowl with a 218.34 average - this year's cut line to make it to match play.
Bowl another 24 games in 3 days.
Defeat 4 bowlers on TV to win the championship.
The most I've ever bowled in a tournament is 12 games in one day. With a fat handicap.
Tell me now you still think bowling isn't an athletic activity.
source: PWBA
2017 PWBA Orlando finalists
L to R: Birgit Poppler, Danielle McEwan, Liz Johnson, Stefanie Johnson
Earlier this month, finalists for PWBA's Orlando Open were announced. The stepladder finals will air on CBS Sports Network Tuesday, August 15, 5:30 pm Eastern Time (8:30 pm Pacific Time).
Like basketball, tennis, volleyball and swimming, it's great to see women competing at the college and professional levels get recognition for athletic skills and abilities once given exclusively to men.
A recent example is University of Oklahoma softball pitcher Paige Parker. Last month, a video that went viral demonstrated how much respect she got from Kansas City Royals catcher Drew Butera when she threw a few warmup pitches to him.
While not quite the power Paige had in her pitches, professional women bowlers can throw it fast too. Below is the PWBA Orlando Open group stepladder finals. The slowest speed was 14 mph. Most ball speeds were in the high 15 mph range, some as high as 17 mph.
Keep in mind the women shown bowling likely weigh no more than 150 pounds and throw a 15-pound ball - same as the men. The heaviest allowable weight for a bowling ball is 16 pounds.
source: Bowl.com
New Hui Fen
2016 PWBA Tour Championship Winner
An update to July 3, 2016's blog entry on 2 Team Singapore members, Cherie Tan and Bernice Lim winning PWBA titles for the 2016 season.
There are now 3. Congratulations to New Hui Fen on defeating fellow Team Singapore bowler Cherie Tan on capturing this year's PWBA Smithfield Tour Championship.
source: PWBA
Liz Johnson, 2016 PWBA US Open Champion
source: Weber Cup
L to R: Jesper Svensson, captain Dom Barrett, Stu Williams, Martin Larsen
Big day of bowling in Addison (Chicago area), Illinois and Manchester, England.
CBS Sports broadcasted live this morning the PWBA US Open Championship Finals.
Kudos to CBS Sports Network for bringing in Dave Lamont for the play-by-play call. He's very articulate and has an encyclopedic knowledge of the game. Unfortunately, we didn't get to hear very much due to poor audio throughout the entire match.
Liz Johnson began as the #4 seed to step up the ladder to capture her 5th US Open title over longtime Team USA member Shannon Pluhowsky.
Special recognition to Singapore's Shayna Ng (2nd seed, 3rd place finish), New Hui Fen (3rd seed, 4th place finish) and Jazreel Tan (10th) for their strong Top 10 finish.
Across the Atlantic Ocean, Team Europe for the 4th consecutive year won Weber Cup 19-11 over Team USA. As it was last year, Team Europe was the much stronger, more experienced team.
In my humblest of opinions, if Team USA is going to remain competitive in Weber Cup, they need to reassess the team selection. Maybe even bold enough to include a woman. And for those of you who regularly read this blog, you know I'm talking about Marshall Kent's girlfriend, Danielle McEwan.
Why? She's 24, got tons of international experience and has shown she's bowled well with men in PBA League and tournaments outside the United States. Without pointing fingers, let's just say the frequent flier miles for Team Europe are a lot higher than Team USA's.
Below is one of many Weber Cup matches from this past weekend. Big thanks to The European Bowling Channel for getting the videos so quickly to YouTube.
I'll close with the PWBA US Open semi-final match between Liz Johnson and Shayna Ng. I show this match because it was her third match in the stepladder to get her to the finals. She overcame a foul in the 10th frame and still won.
Thanks again to bowlingvideos4all for your tireless work to get these matches to YouTube as fast as you do.
source: PWBA
Clara Guerrero, 2016 PWBA Players Championship
source: PWBA
Rocio Restrepo, 2016 PWBA Greater Detroit Open
The international presence on this year's PWBA tour continues. Last month, it was Singapore's Cherie Tan and Bernice Lim (see July 3, 2016 blog entry). This month, Clara Guerrero and Rocio Restrepo.
From YouTube's HappyBowlers.com, PWBA Go Bowling Players Championship:
And from bowlingvideos4all, here's the PWBA Greater Detroit Open:
source: PWBA
Cherie Tan, 2016 PWBA Storm Sacramento Open Champion
These women are at it again. For a country with a population of just under 5.5 million (San Francisco Bay Area is over 6 million), they are dominating women's bowling. Two more from the Singapore Women's National Bowling team took 2 PWBA titles this season.
Congratulations Bernice Lim and Cherie Tan.
Here's Bernice in action
Source: YouTube's bosares
And here's lefty Cherie Tan:
Source: YouTube's Mousa Abdullah
- Three gold medals (trios, team, Masters) and one bronze medal (doubles) at 2014 PABCON Championships
- Fourth at 2012 and 2013 QubicaAMF World Cup
- One gold medal (team) at 2012 WTBA World Youth Championships
- One gold medal (team) at 2011 PABCON Youth Championships
- Four gold medals (all-events, doubles, team, national all-events) and two silver medals (singles, mixed doubles) at 2011 Tournament of the Americas
Other
- 2012 and 2013 USBC Team USA Trials champion
- Runner-up at 2015 USBC Team USA Trials
- Third at 2013 U.S. Women's Open (see my July 20, 2013 blog entry)
- Bowled collegiately at Fairleigh Dickinson
- NCAA Player of the Year in 2012 and 2013
- First-team Collegiate All-American and Academic All-American in 2011, 2012 and 2013
- FDU Female Athlete of the Year in 2012 and 2013
- 2011, 2012 and 2013 Northeast Conference Bowler of the Year
- 2010 Collegiate Masters champion
- 2010 NCAA Tournament Most Outstanding Player and member of National Championship team
This is all very impressive. The long list continues to grow. For the past 2 months, Danielle's been on another planet.
-Wins PWBA Tour Championship
-Invited to 2015 World Women's Championships for Team USA
-Wins South Point PBA West Challenge
-Wins PBA Team Challenge with her team, Dead Money
What's inspiring about Danielle is her poise at such a young age. Her game should be shown on all bowling instructional videos, as her form is fundamentally sound.
You can see it here in the PWBA Southfield Open (Women's Tour Championship):
And as the only female on a team that bowled against the heavily favored 4 Majors and 100 at 1 (Bill O'Neill, Tommy Jones, Tom Daugherty, Wes Malott and Jason Belmonte), it was team work and calm under pressure which enabled them to win the 2-game Baker System match. For me, a big plus to see 2015 Weber Cup captain Dom Barrett appear as a guest analyst.
As I'm sticky, tired and listless from the heat today (86F in San Francisco, 99F in the Peninsula), I'm all about posting something easy. Below is video from last weekend's PWBA tournament in Topeka, Kansas.
Former Nebraska standout Liz Kuhlkin came in as the #3 seed. Liz defeated Clara Guerrero, Liz Johnson and top seed Danielle McEwan to claim her first PWBA title.
A big congratulations to Stefanie Johnson who won last weekend's PWBA Wichita Open. You can see her in action here:
And it's now available on YouTube, here's the PWBA Lubbock Open finals match on July 18, featuring again Stefanie versus Jazreel Tan in the finals match.
The 11-week tour began in Milwaukee with the USBC Queens. It will continue weekly throughout the summer and end with the PWBA Tour Championship on September 10.
Jazreel is no stranger to women's bowling. She has been one of the mainstays on the Singaporean women's national team (see June 3, 2013 blog entry), a powerhouse in international bowling circles for the past 4-5 years. In the above picture, 3 of Jazzy's teammates (Cherie Tan, Daphne Tan, and Shayna Ng) made the match play cut (final 16).
For this professional bowling fan, I am extremely excited to see the PWBA tour's return. Here's video from last week's stepladder final at the Storm Sacramento Open.
Watching last night's U.S. Open Championship in Women's Bowling outdoors in the dust and wind in downtown Reno, Nevada made me appreciate more than ever how tough it is to be a pro bowler. And because there hasn't been a dedicated women's tour (PWBA) since 2003, it's even tougher for females.
Kelly Kulick and Missy Parkin, the bowlers in the championship match, have proven that women can bowl with men.
In 2010, Kelly was the first woman to win the PBA Tournament of Champions. In 2011, Missy won the USBC Queens. In college, Missy bowled on the men's team for 2 seasons at Cal State-Fullerton.
It's extremely unlikely I'd ever reach the level of Kelly or Missy. But my love for the game is everything that's described in the above promotional video for last year's PBA shootout.
